The Future of Hyundai Sports Cars

Is Hyundai reinventing the Honda CRX with its upcoming small coupe? And will the Genesis Coupe ever get a V-8? We get answers.

STEVE SILER

Jun 3, 2009

Over the past few years, Hyundai has marched upward with the all the drive, ambition, and brashness of Eva Peron. Since 2007, we have seen Hyundai augment its line of plebeian automobiles with the upscale Veracruz crossover, the impressive Genesis sedan, and the surprisingly talented Genesis Coupe.

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As part of its second so-called “24/7” plan, during which Hyundai will launch seven new vehicles in 24 months, the company will revamp its line of core products. (The first 24/7 plan started in 2005 and ended in 2007.) Most interesting to us among those products is a compact sporty coupe based on the Accent platform and styled much in the vein of the well-received Veloster concept car that debuted in Frankfurt in 2007.

In a recent interview with Car and Driver, Hyundai product PR chief Miles Johnson confirmed that the little Honda CRX-like 2+2 is on track for launch sometime during the 24/7 2.0 program, which technically started with the introduction of the Genesis Coupe and continues late this year with the next-generation Tucson crossover. We imagine that it would be offered in the States with a range of four-pot engines ranging from 1.6 to 2.0 liters, possibly including the high-output (i.e. turbocharged) version of the 2.0-liter seen in the 210-hp Genesis Coupe 2.0T.

More Powerful Genesis Coupe? Not from Hyundai

Speaking of the Genesis Coupe, Johnson also confirmed that it won’t get the Genesis sedan’s 375-hp V-8 or a more powerful version of the two-door's own silky 306-hp V-6. Hyundai instead will rely on the aftermarket to juice up the Gen Coupe beyond its current state of tune, thus allowing the car to better target performance-minded Infiniti G37 and BMW 335i enthusiast customers that Hyundai currently is attempting to woo. Outfits such as HKS and Rhys Millen Racing have been developing various upgrade kits, which could be offered in Stage 1 and Stage 2 strengths—or beyond—for installation at a Hyundai dealership.

The big issue right now is figuring out warranty issues. One option is asking the parts providers to engineer add-ons that Hyundai will feel comfortable backing with its full 10-year powertrain warranty. Another idea has the company treating cars differently on which the powertrain has been altered, covering them by a separate set of warranty rules. That matter has yet to be sorted out. Whatever happens, we like the possibilities.